With respect to RAM, what should be considered is that on the physical device, the switch is rather limited here in terms of how much it can house internally.
As of current, the Switch has 2 memory modules of 2GB LPDDR4X RAM. Each ram is about 100mm^2 or so, the space these two modules take up isn’t really small either:
if you are going to have a third or even a 4th memory module, you would need to figure out how to place it in such a tight package here.
Next, is heat, while we concern ourselves with the SoC heat, the RAM
also releases heat when in use. The V2, Lite and OLED models are clocked lower than their maximum so the heat they produce is lower, which aids in factoring for its efficiency as the fan doesn’t need to be on a full blast
all the time. This is among the other reasons for why these devices are as efficient as they are.
And finally, is the power draw. When the switch goes through its hierarchy, it accesses the RAM which invokes more energy usage and repeated over a series and you get what adds up to more energy being used than necessary. Having 2 is one thing, have 3 or 4 is separate modules that need to be accessed for data and these don’t consume zero energy.
The reason I have been saying that more cache for the device is beneficial for this device is that this reduces the need to fetch data from the RAM (and reduces latency as a result) and aids in it’s efficiency. The Apple A series chips are efficient not only in part due to their own engineering but also in part because they don’t really skimp out in cache that helps with the efficiency of the chip and less need to go out and access the RAM.
Of course, the use case of those chips isn’t really the same as a game console like this. But while we can make a theoretical device that has all the bells and whistles that devs want and for games to look and run as best as possible, as soon as you bring physics, form factor, use case, etc., you start to see where it falls apart and you are left with “mm, well what if- no that won’t work” scenario.
And I haven’t even discussed the need to have the memory controllers on the soc on either side, or the cost and what have you.
2 modules seems like the sweet spot.
Now do they have the ones that we have in mind? (64-bit 3GB/4GB/6GB modules?)
ORIN NX already seems to use 2 6GB 64-bit modules apparently.
. Yeah I agree, switch 2 will be at least $100 more than OLED.
